Catalan leaders imprisoned for sedition as region erupts in protest
Highways are blockaded and flights cancelled as demonstrators clash with riot police after verdict
NINE leaders of the Catalan independence movement were jailed yesterday for sedition over their role in a failed independence bid, sparking mass protests across the region.
The region’s former deputy president, Oriol Junqueras, who was also found guilty of the misuse of public funds, was given the longest sentence of 13 years. Thousands of protesters took to streets as the verdict was announced, where they were met by hundreds of extra riot police sent by Madrid.
At least 20 flights were cancelled as activists clashed with police at Barcelona’s airport. Highways across the region were blockaded, as well as the railway line in Girona – a city between the Catalan capital and the border with France. Catalonia’s current president, Quim Torra, said his government did not accept a verdict he described as an “insult to democracy [that showed] contempt for Catalan society”.
Flanked by members of the current Catalan government, Mr Torra said Catalans would continue to fight for independence.
“Repression will never triumph over dialogue, democracy and self-determination,” he said. Barcelona Football Club also weighed in, tweeting: “Prison is not the solution. The resolution of the conflict in Catalonia must come exclusively from political dialogue.”
The verdicts will reignite the unresolved tension around Catalonian independence in time for next month’s general election, Spain’s fourth in as many years.
The case centred around the unsanctioned 2017 independence referendum, led by then-president Carles Puigdemont, and a subsequent declaration of independence. Shortly after yesterday’s verdict, Spain said it had re-issued a European arrest warrant for Mr Puigdemont, who currently lives in selfimposed exile in Belgium.
Spain previously withdrew its bid to have Mr Puigdemont extradited from Germany when German courts ruled that he could only be sent back to Spain to face charges relating to the misuse of funds and not the more serious charge of rebellion. Last night he urged Catalans to fight on through “non-violent struggle and the defence of civil rights”.
Besides Mr Puidgement, three other Catalan politicians have taken refuge in Belgium, two in Switzerland and another, Clara Ponsatí, is working in Scotland as a professor at St Andrews University.
Five members of the regional government were sentenced to between 12 and 10 and a half years in jail in yesterday’s verdict, while Carme Forcadell, who was speaker of the Catalan parliament at the time, received an 11-and-ahalf-year term. Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, the leaders of two pro-independence civil society groups that organised large demonstrations, were each handed sentences of nine years for sedition.
All were acquitted of the most serious charge of rebellion, which carries a 25-year sentence. Five former politicians were also found guilty of improperly siphoning money from the Catalan government to pay some of the costs of the independence campaign. All nine of those handed prison sentences have been in custody for at least 18 months.
Further protests were expected last night, and a march on Barcelona from five towns has been called for Friday to coincide with a general strike in the city.
‘Repression will never triumph over dialogue and democracy’